


I Kinda Thought I Would Die and, Like a Coward, Would Not Have to Deal With This Conversation.

by Writingfangirlforhire



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cisco is basically a god lmao, M/M, Superpowers are known
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 20:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19410616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writingfangirlforhire/pseuds/Writingfangirlforhire
Summary: “Careful you don't forget to turn that negative into a positive,” Roscoe was saying, pointing to the board. Harrison turn to see that he had in fact forgotten that he was writing an additive symbol and got distracted, leaving it looking like a subtractive symbol.“Ah yeah, thanks Roscoe.”“Uh, that's not uh, that's not my name?” Roscoe suddenly said. Harry turned to him and cocked his head. “For a while I thought that you were calling me the name on purpose, to show your superiority or something. But uh I'm starting to get the feeling that you just genuinely don't know.”“What uh…” Harrison's voice got really rough as he tried to recover from his mistakes. “What is your name then?”“Cisco? Cisco Ramon. I can kinda see where Roscoe came from, but uh yeah I'm Cisco, nice to actually meet you.”





	1. I'm Batman

In a different world:

Energent rolled his eyes as the mugger tried to stab him with a knife. The mugger looked shocked as the knife went through Energent instead of into him. 

“Buddy, it sure is your unlucky day,” Energents voice was rough, masked. All of a sudden the knife flew out of the muggers hands and disappeared.

“Who are you?” the mugger asked in shock. 

A smirk played across Energent’s face, “I’m Batman.” Energent grabbed him, except that his gloved hands never touched him. The mugger got picked up and then a portal opened behind him, he found himself dropped into a prison holding cell, a file convicting him of his crimes was on the floor right outside the cell.

……………………………………………………….

3 Weeks ago:

Harrison Wells strode down the hall, people practically jumped out of his way but he didn’t even notice. He was holding a cup of coffee and a data tablet. “Hi Jesse,” He mumbled as he passed her office’s open door. He faintly heard a, “Hi Dad,” as he kept walking, never looking up. He headed down the stairs and soon found himself in Engineering. He walked over to the supervisor. Roscoe might be his name?

“Good morning sir,” Roscoe could faintly be heard saying as he silently walked into the engineering lab. 

He walked up to a white board, took one look at it and then erased everything on it. 

“Uh, sir, that was important,” Roscoe notified him. 

“No it wasn’t,” Harrison says as he starts writing on the board.

“It was, it was for a project that you’re paying me to work on.”

“This is more important.”

“Y-yeah but this is my lab?”

Harrison looked up for the first time and looked at Roscoe, he looked around and then shrugged.

“Thanks for letting me use it Roscoe,” Harrison didn’t even bother to act like he meant that in the slightest. 

He heard a mumble as the Engineer walked away.

Present Day:

“Good morning Dr. Wells,” Roscoe said as he walked into his own lab to find Harrison throwing another marker violently across the room, he handed his boss another coffee and another marker. “Having a great day I see.”

“It just doesn't make sense,” Harrison grumbled by way of thank you.

Roscoe sat on his desk, crossing his legs. “Have you considered looking at the gravitational pull of the device itself?”

“Already did.”

“And you took into consideration the gravitational pull of the user and surroundings naturally.”

“I'm not a idiot.”

“Maybe you are,” Roscoe said with a chuckle. Harrison glared at him. “You wrote the gravitational pull as being a negative force against the energy, but you didn't take into account that with this device the magnetic field would actually reverse the effects of that pull.”

Harrison stared at him in shock.

Then he turned away and rewrote his equation in silence.

Hours later a big belly burger was being placed in front of him by Roscoe. He finally took the time to consider the man, one of his newer employee's. Jesse hired him, said that she met him through a different employee, Caitlyn Snow. Jesse said he was brilliant with mechanical engineering and conceptual design. Jesse neglected to say he was a genius. He looked young, maybe a little older than Jesse. Today he was dressed in a dark t-shirt and red pants, Harrison couldn't remember exactly what he was wearing the other days.

“Careful you don't forget to turn that negative into a positive,” Roscoe was saying, pointing to the board. Harrison turn to see that he had in fact forgotten that he was writing an additive symbol and got distracted, leaving it looking like a subtractive symbol. 

“Ah yeah, thanks Roscoe.”

“Uh, that's not uh, that's not my name?” Roscoe suddenly said. Harry turned to him and cocked his head. “For a while I thought that you were calling me the name on purpose, to show your superiority or something. But uh I'm starting to get the feeling that you just genuinely don't know.”

“What uh…” Harrison's voice got really rough as he tried to recover from his mistakes. “What is your name then?”

“Cisco? Cisco Ramon. I can kinda see where Roscoe came from, but uh yeah I'm Cisco, nice to actually meet you.”  _ Cisco _ actually put out his hand for Harrison to shake.

“Harry,” he said distractedly, shaking his hand, trying to remember how long he'd thought this guy was named Roscoe.

“Well Harry, here's your belly burger, Jesse told me your usual.”

“Thanks Ro-mone,” Harrison mentally recalculated and stepped back into the moment. Cisco chuckled and went back to work on a smaller whiteboard where he was working on the schematics for something.

He wasn't quite sure how much later he actually started working again. He ate his belly burger and watched Cisco Ramon work. Apparent Genius by the looks of it.

“How old are you Ramon?”

“29,” Cisco responded softly as he furrowed his brow at his schematic.

Harry hummed softly at that. Cisco was about 12 years older than Jesse then. 

Eventually Harrison stops staring and turns back to his equation. He'd forgot to finish making the subtractive symbol a additive symbol.

………………………………………………………

Energent sighed with relief. A tension he'd been holding all day let go and he felt his connection to the multiverse reopen. He took a peek at some of the other Earth's on the Multiverse. The self appointed Earth 1 was his favorite, it was so close to his earth. He can't wait until he meets Barry on his earth. Earth 2 was a tiny bit of a shit show with all the mutating and getting powers and their Harry leaving to go to Earth 1, and Reverb, the whole thing is a mess. He checked in on a couple of different Earth's. He could feel Reverbs power search for whatever it was that he felt touch him. Reverb was strong. It's a shame he was evil.

Energent turned his attention to the safeguards of the multiverse, the speed force being one of them. He tended to them and felt them tend to him as well as their energies vibed on similar frequency.


	2. "What the fuck?" "Is that professional language?"

The first thing Harrison noticed as he walked into the lab was that Cisco was there before him. The second was that Cisco has his leg raised and had ice on it. He also noticed that Cisco had on the same clothes as yesterday. 

“What the fuck?” 

Cisco dropped his leg and the ice pack. And he grinned at Harry, “Is that professional language?” 

“What the fuck Ramon? Did you get hurt?” Harry strode over and bent to look at his ankle. Cisco rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

“Uh yeah, I fell off a ladder last night and landed on the wrong side of my foot. It's not broken I'm pretty sure, but it hurt like a bitch and I couldn't walk to my apartment like this so I decided to stay here until Caitlyn gets to her lab in an hour.”

“You slept here?” 

“Not really, slept is a very specific term,” Cisco shrugged. Harrison gives him an unimpressed look. “I think faster when I'm in pain, so I used it. I finished a new pair of forcefield wrist watches, and also made a schematic for a new 3d printing gun which can replicate 4 different types of building materials.” Cisco gave him a cheeky smile. 

“I'm resisting the urge to have you explain it to me because I want you to understand that using your pain like that isn't healthy, but it's really hard.” Harry crossed his arms and tried to look disappointed.

“I’m pretty sure that Mr. ‘I forgot to eat for 3 days straight’ can’t lecture me about not taking care of myself and working instead,” Cisco crossed his arms back. Harry just rolled his eyes and picked the ice pack off the floor. 

“As soon as Dr. Snow looks you over I want you to go home and sleep,” Harrison said as he picked Cisco's leg up and put the ice pack back where it was. “You've worked enough overtime last night that I'm gonna count it as you being here all day and tomorrow.”

“I wasn't clocked in,” Cisco said in a challenging manner.

“And you think I can't clock you in and out in my own company?” Harrison challenged right back. Cisco held his eye contact for a few seconds before finally admitting defeat. He shrugged and mumbled about still having to walk back. “You'll do no such thing,” Harrison said.

“What are you gonna do, have your personal driver take me home?” Cisco scoffed. Harrison gave him an offended look.

“I drive myself thanks,” he defended his honor, “Today I brought the bike though, so I'll probably have to borrow Jesse's car to take you home in.”

The look of disbelief in Cisco's face was worth the ego flex. 

After Cisco saw Caitlyn (“outside of a case of stupid bad luck… nothing abnormal! Ice, ibuprofen, and elevation, you'll be right as rain soon.”) he found himself sitting in the passenger side of Jessie's B Wagon.

Harrison helped him all the way up to his third floor apartment (“Rent isn't cheap Harry”). As Cisco opened the door to his apartment he hesitated before inviting Harrison in.

“It’s not the cleanest place on earth, but I don’t really spend much time here.” Cisco shrugged, “Just sleep and some eating.” Harrison followed Cisco in, to see that the space was only a little different than he’d expected. 

There was the nerd items that he’d expected, based on the clothing items that Cisco wore. There was a desk shoved into the corner of the small living room, which had a slightly smaller amount of all of the items that Cisco has in the Lab for his work, and there were whiteboards hung up all over the walls. There was a small tv, a gigantic amount of movies underneath it, and a futon for a couch. The walls were bare other than a shelf with different movie paraphernalia.

The kitchen was bare other than a couple of dishes in the sink and what looked like a food stain on the counter. There was two chairs beside a small table, for the “dining room” which just had a shelving unit with a bunch of snacks, different alcohols, and then a bunch of spare parts and what looked like an odd collection of chemicals. 

“Sorry, it looks like I’m some sort of bomber.” Cisco hobbled over to the kitchen and got a couple glasses down, “Water or wine?” Cisco looked back at Harrison. This caught him by surprise. 

“What?”

“Water or wine? As a thank you for helping me get home. Alternatively I have vodka, scotch, or whiskey. But you have to drive back so, I don’t really feel great about giving you a harder drink.” Cisco gave him a smile, looking like he hoped that he would accept something.

Harrison had pity on him and gratefully accepted a wine.

“I have Rosé, or a nice white wine, or a rather dry red wine.” Harrison rolled his eyes at the Rosé and graciously accepted the white wine. As Cisco was pouring it, he felt the need to make conversation, but he hated small talk, so he looked for something to actually talk about. He came up short handed, and kept uncomfortably quiet until Cisco handed him his wine. 

“Thanks for helping me home,” Cisco toasted him. 

“My pleasure,” Harrison smiled, not glad to not have to start the conversation, “Your house… not quite what I imagined it.”

“Bigger?”

“Smaller, actually. I know what I pay you, you should be able to afford a bit more. Paying off student loans?”

“No, I was only in college for 2 years,” Cisco shrugged, “Full ride scholarship too. No, I uh, have a hobby that takes a lot of time and money.”

“What is it?” Harrison asked.

Cisco smiled tightly, “Oh you know, building stuff.” He shrugged. Harrison knew that wasn’t the full story, but he just raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Taking a drink.

“I expected it to be more cluttered with sentimental items.” Harrison commented.

“Well I don't exactly have a lot, the only friends I hang out with are all the “meh lets just drink and play videogames types,” not the 'lets go make sweet mems’ types.” Cisco shrugged again. Harrison didn't ask after Family. He looked around in silence for a few seconds.

“I should probably head back,” he expressed after a second. Cisco nodded and gulped down the rest of his wine, “And if I see you back at work before 48 hours is over, I will fire you.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Cisco rolled his eyes. 

“I mean it Ramon.” 

“No, no, I know!” Cisco rolled his eyes again.

49 hours later Harry was working in the lab and Cisco walks right in, no limp, nothing. 

Harrison just watched him as he walked confidently to his small whiteboard. Cisco looked up at him and smiled cheekily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Here's chapter two! A little on the smaller side but hopefully you won't mind!


	3. Cover your eyes

Energent walked slowly down the streets, his goggles showed the lines of energy flowing throughout the universe, Star Wars quotes came to mind as he pondered that.

A police car passed by him with the lights and siren going. It was going towards where he had just come from. It was followed by an ambulance… Energent felt a balance in energy throughout the universe.

His work done, he prepared to transport back to his hideout when something stopped him. An energy explosion coming from Wells Lab Institute.

He began to transport in a hurry but the wave of dark matter energy hit him first. He felt crippling pain and he curled in on himself mid transport. 

Everything faded to black.

_ What the fuck _

_ Where am I? _

Energent reached for his goggles to pull them off. The lenses were blackened like they'd shorted out and caught fire.

As he pulled them off he was immediately overloaded with information. All Earth's, all realities, past and future ever changing, molding. The universe screamed in pain with him. He was on fire and freezing cold. Melting and solidifying. He was vibing so fast he couldn't move. He could barely understand what he was seeing, yet he could understand it all. He knew exactly what happened. He watched as Reverb shook in pain from the strength of the connection. Earth 1’s Vibe cried out in pain and collapsed, his connection to the energy not as opened and discovered as Reverb. 

He felt a familiar energy bouncing back to him. It was the power he put into the universe safeguards.

_ It will destroy me, I've got too much power for it to let me live. _

**Cover your eyes.**

It sounded like his own voice.

_ What? That's not right it should destroy me. _

**Cover your eyes.**

Energent did. He put his goggles back on and kept his eyes closed. He could feel the ground again under his knees. Shaking he put his hands down on the ground. He could vaguely tell where he was. It felt like the street outside his apartment. He felt around blindly on his suit, trying to remember where he put his keys.

Finally he dug them out. And felt out the door handle, his connection to the energy was muted, but it felt right. He put his key into the lock and opened it. He tried to picture the layout of the apartment entrance and slowly made his way to the stairs.

After he finally made it to his apartment he took off the goggles but kept his eyes closed. He tried to vibe the apartment but it made his head spin. He put the goggles back on and opened his eyes. Everything hurt and it felt like a migraine trying to push itself past the surface. But he could vaguely see the layout of his apartment, and all apartments that any version of him had ever had. He moved around it with some difficulties considering the very slight view being disrupted by every other view. But finally he made it to his room. The migraine was becoming too much and he closed his eyes. 

It subsided with his eyes closed. He pulled off his goggles again, and then the rest of his suit piece by piece, trying not to fall over. Finally he was undressed. Grabbing his goggles again he put then back on and searched his drawer. Finally, one migraine later, he found it. An old, holey t-shirt. He ripped it apart quickly and took off his goggles. He tied the black cloth around his eyes and opened them. It was nearly complete darkness. His headache lessened significantly. 

Well that would make going to work in the morning nearly impossible.

____________________________________________________________________________

Cisco couldn't make it to work the next day. So when, a day later, Cisco got into his lab finally, a full hour late, he could sense that Harry wasn't there, which he was grateful for. He didn't have the technology to do this at home.

Suddenly his phone went off. 

He struggled for way too long to figure out how to answer the call. “This is Cisco,” he answered, adding pep into his voice. Not knowing who was calling him. 

“Where the fuck were you Ramon?” Harrison Wells sounded pissed.

“For?” 

“How about all of work yesterday? The team meeting today? Any of it? Didn't you see the email? It was an idea sharing session, Jesse's idea.”

“Ah, sorry, I didn't  _ see _ anything,” Cisco felt irritated at the fact he missed it. It was a new idea of Jesse's to continue to lighten the mood by having a team effort meeting every once in a while. They were fun.

“Well you've been clocked in for an hour. So where have you been?” 

“Uh, walking mostly? Look I have to get to work, uh, can I talk to you later Harry?”

The door to his lab opened.

“You can talk to me now.”

Instinctively he turned to look at Harry and then swore as soon as he did.

“What the fuck is on your eyes?”

Cisco gently touched the black cloth around his eyes and sighed.

“I had an incident.”

“What happened?” 

“I uh, can't really see, because whenever light gets to my eyes it's like immediately overwhelming and painful.”

He heard and felt Harry move closer. 

“Have you been to see Snow?” Harry didn't sound pleased. But he never did.

“I uh… I don't think this is something Caitlyn can fix.” Cisco could feel his voice getting softer as Harry got closer. 

“What happened?” Harry demanded again, but in a softer tone. 

“I uh… something hit me last night. I don't know what caused it, but if felt like I got hit by some weird ass lightning but also wind. And then, I could see so much that it hurts, I was paralyzed.” Cisco's head was reeling, but he figured… Harry is the only person he knows who's been working with dark matter. And before he got hit, he knows it vibed as black matter.

He could sense Harry tensing up beside him.

“Was there any exterior effect of this?” Harry sounded cautious. Cisco slowly untied the black cloth. 

“I don't know I haven't seen.” 

“The skin around your eyes is a little raw looking,” Harry admitted, his hands rested on the sides of his head while his thumbs lightly brushed around Cisco's eyes. It felt good. “Can you open your eyes for me?” Harry's voice was so soft Cisco was certain he imagined it. 

“Uh…”

“Please.”

It was less of a question this time.

He opened them slowly and immediately his vision was batting around the universe.

**_“Whoa,”_ ** Harry's whisper was barely understandable. Cisco felt like he was dying. Tears streamed down his face as he watched all realities playing simultaneously.

He was doubled over sobbing and Harry pulled the cloth back over his eyes.

“I'm so sorry Ramon, this is my fault.”

_ Not all of it. _ Cisco thought.

“Let me help you.”

“What did it look like?” Cisco whispered. He felt Harry cup his cheeks and he leaned into it, in need of comfort.

“It looked like dark matter and the Galaxy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no See   
> Hahaha  
> ha  
> ha  
> ah i suck


	4. Dropped to Zero

It was Harry's device that had exploded and caught Cisco. Harry explained what had happened. He'd been trying to create a new device for temporarily disabling superhumans powers. It was going to only be given to a few, able bodied and well researched people, ones dedicated to the safety of their city, who were unbiased and trust worthy. 8/10 superhumans were criminals, so it was becoming increasingly difficult to contain criminals. Very few superhumans had become public heroes, because the stigma against them was harsh. This device would make it easier to apprehend the bad guys. And, if given to the right people, could bolster trust in the good supers.

The problem happened when Harry was about finished with the device. He had gotten the proportions on the device just a little too small and it wasn't enough to contain the dark matter. It exploded and sent the wave throughout Central City.

And that's how they ended up here.

Cisco insisted they wait until after hours to do medical scans. He didn't want to pull Caitlyn into this. 

However, that gave Harry plenty of time to question him.

“So were you already super?” Harry asked cautiously about 10 minutes after they'd grown silent in agreeing to wait. Cisco ducked his head. It wasn't a law yet that you had to inform your employer if you were a super, but it was generally known that most good supers do.

“I'm called Energent, self proclaimed force field of the universe.” Cisco finally said, it was terrifying that he couldn't see Harry's expression, when he didn't get a response he continued. “My powers developed as a kid and I've been using them since. Alternatively I could be called Vibe, but I think that name is taken so I called myself Energent, and it stuck. I can see and manipulate the energy vibrations and frequency of this and all universes. I have a connection to the energy of existence and I can use it to see the future, to see the past, alternate realities, other versions of Earth, and to locate people, transport myself places, and manipulate energy to create physical effects like energy balls or force fields. I also can work like one gigantic battery.

If I have a sense of someone's vibration frequency, I can find them anywhere on Earth or on other Earth's if they share the same frequency.”

“So you're some sort of weird god?” Harry finally spoke.

“Well, I can't create or destroy anything, I can only affect energy…” Cisco shrugged. He didn't see anything but he could sense that Harry was rolling his eyes at the technicality. 

“So what happened when the dark matter hit you?” Harrison asked after a few moments of silence. 

“It was almost like a power surge that shorted out my ability to filter what I'm seeing. On top of that I could see even more than I could before, it's like someone zoomed out the big picture but all of the spots you could see before had big magnifying glasses in front of them and you are seeing them all at once. I couldn't choose to see just one thing, I was seeing it all at once, past and future and everything that passed through the present, in all realities on all Earth's, and more. My frequency presence also was so high that versions of me from other dimensions and Earths could feel the backlash even if they had just the tiniest ability to vibe. It felt like I was going to explode from electricity. Then I felt a familiar energy, it was some power I plugged into the universe forcefield. It should have tried to destroy me because I was too powerful, but instead it just told me to cover my eyes. Whenever there is darkness covering my eyes, I am not affected, and whenever I opened my eyes or I can kinda see, the sight of it all slowly floods my senses and gives me a migraine.”

Harry was quiet, but to Cisco his presence was strong. Harry finally stood and set his hands on Cisco's shoulders. 

“I'm so sorry Ramon, I should have been more careful. This is my fault. And I'm gonna find a way to help you manage your eyes.”

Cisco just hung his head, exhausted. “I just want to be like I was before.” He whispered.

“It's a shame you can't time travel and tell me not to do that,” Harry said with a sympathetic chuckled.

Cisco gave a half hearted laugh, “Yeah, doesn't work like that unfortunately.”

They bounced ideas back in forth in a bit chattier of a way then they normally did, Cisco appreciated how much Harrison tried to verbalize things instead of showing him things like he normally did. 

After that grew old, Cisco tried different levels of light visibility to see what affected him fastest.

Finally it was about a half an hour after the work day was over, Harrison said that Caitlyn had clocked out, and they cautiously headed to her lab. Once they got in, Harrison led Cisco to one of the examination tables and had him sit on it. 

“Let me calibrate these to something I've been working on.” Harry was thinking out loud again. Cisco had wondered what Harry had been working on all day when they weren't talking. “I have two things, one of them measures levels of Dark Matter energy and the other will help the medical equipment not short out from the moment we scan you with them.”

“Awesome,” Cisco felt disappointed that he couldn't see what Harry was talking about, “Do you want me to sit, lay down, what?”

“Laying probably, whatever is most convenient,” Harry was suddenly right beside him, “I don't have any of these scans from before the accident, so I will have to do a scan of you currently and also check that against average scans for supers. Then I'll scan you in different stages of vibing. Okay?”

Cisco exhaled sharply and started to lay down, “Okay,” he breathed.

“I need you to relax as much as possible Ramon.” Cisco felt Harry's hand on his arm, “Relax.” The older man gave him a reassuring squeeze.

Harry started hooking some equipment up to him after that, and Cisco tried to relax, but not being able to see what was going on was terrifying. After placing all sorts of stuff around his skull, Harry cupped Cisco's cheek lightly. 

“Almost done,” he spoke gently for Dr. Harrison Wells.

“Okay,” Cisco whispered.

After a few more pieces of equipment, Harry announced that he was going to do the initial scan.

A gentle wave of energy rolled over him, and it was the first time since the accident that he felt like he was properly connected to the energy of his world only. 

“Okay, now why don't you close your eyes and take off the mask.”

Cisco slowly behaved, the small amount of light coming through his eyelids sent starbursts of energy and vibrations through his brain. He could pick up little bits of information here and there. 

“Okay now grab your blackened goggles,” came Harrison's voice.

Cisco felt them in his pocket and brought them up to fasten on his face.

He took a few deep breaths and opened his eyes. Light filtered in through his goggles and he could feel a migraine starting. He could only see the light above him, so his vision in frequency was a lot less specific. But oh it hurt his head.

“Sunglasses?” Their next test. Cisco took a deep breath and held it while he closed his eyes and removed his goggles, the pain subsided a little and he grabbed for Harrison's sunglasses, in his other pocket. He put those on and took another breath before opening his eyes he could still barely see any specifics but it seemed as if he was almost at maximum vibe vision. He didn't leave his eyes open for any longer than he had to. He heard, or rather saw the vibration of the beep, and then closed his eyes and covered them with his arm. 

He was crying a little, and he could feel his body shaking. 

“Gimme a second,” he breathed, his voice shook and wobbled from the pain and electricity.

Harrison agreed, but his words were muffled. It was like he was speaking through a wall of glass.

After several deep breaths, Cisco felt a little better. 

“Last one,” Harry sounded sad yet curious. 

“I can do it,” Cisco confirmed. He breathed deep and slow as he removed his arms and then pulled the sunglasses off his face.

Finally he opened his eyes. 

It was like every molecule was in Ultra HD, and every heartbeat was a rock concert. Cisco was sobbing he could feel his body shaking violently, it was like he was gonna vibe out of existence. 

Finally something covered his eyes. He automatically knew it was Harry. Cisco rolled onto his side away from Harry and vomited. Once he was finished, he felt a wet washcloth wiping things off his cheek. Then Harry was sitting up and giving him a bottle of water. Cisco took a few deep swigs before turning to face him. 

“Were the readings crazy off the charts?” He asked, voice rough.

“The sensors couldn't detect your existence,” Harry spoke softly, “The vibration frequency just kept increasing until all of a sudden it dropped to zero. I could see your body, but according to the readings, you weren't actually there.”


	5. The Blacksmith

It pained Harrison to see Cisco in this state, and it was his fault. If he had been paying closer attention to the size appropriateness, this wouldn't have happened.

Of course he did wonder why Cisco never came to him about being a super before, or even to Jesse. Hell, Jesse's a super! 

She had decided to go out of town, all the way to Gotham, to chase down one of Central City's supervillains. And oh how grateful he was that she was in Gotham that night. If she had been in Central City… who knows if the dark matter would have affected her. She could have ended up like Cisco. 

But that doesn't stop him from wondering why Cisco never made it known to Jesse that he was a super as well. There was nothing on the internet about Energent. Yet when he asked Jesse about the name, her face paled and she claimed there was an emergency she needed to stop and she zoomed out of there.

He trusted Cisco, he believed that Cisco Ramon is a ‘help wounded puppies and scared kids’ type of guy. But Jesse's response, and the lack of news on him, good or bad, had Harrison curious.

He started researching unidentified superhuman news and narrowed it down to electricity based happenings. Here he found a lot of information. Some good and some bad. This super they talked about appeared to be some sort of antihero. The Super helped people often, but didn't seem to be bothered by destroying public buildings in order to defeat other Supers. He also seemed to enjoy making citizens arrests and drop the criminals into jail with a case file.

All signed E.

This seemed pretty plausible.

Other than that, there wasn't much to learn about this electric super. 

He didn't seem to be a bad guy. Not wanting to be out and open about his powers doesn't make Cisco a villain.

It's not like he and Cisco were best friends… 

Harry threw his pen across the room hard. Why was he so upset about this anyway? Why should he care. 

Harry rolled his eyes and picked up at the spare, goggles that Cisco had given him to look at. These were tinted a milky gold color, unlike the ones Cisco was apparently wearing when the explosion happened. Cisco said that when he put them on he passed out immediately, so he gave Harry permission to do whatever he wanted to them.

As far as Harry could tell, all they did was focus his view on the vibrations. He wondered if he could adjust them to filter out some of the vibrations, and focus to ones in this universe only.

He tinkered with them for a while when Caitlyn ran into his- Cisco's lab visibly startled. Or maybe that was just the white eyes and hair talking…

____________________________________________________________________________

In the next few weeks he picked Cisco up in the morning. This morning, the long haired, currently blind scientist was already standing in front of his building, eating a breakfast burrito and precariously balancing two travel mugs of coffee on top of each other.

Harrison hopped out of the car and opened the door, calling to Cisco. 

Saying their good mornings, Harry helped him into the car and headed to the office. 

“I need your help on something,” Harrison said, about 5 minutes into the ride, “I need you to Vibe Dr. Snow.”

“What happened to Caitlyn?” Cisco asked immediately.

“The dark matter.”

“I thought we've figured out it has only affected supers?”

“It does…”

Cisco paused, Harry missed seeing his whole face, where he could watch his reactions, and his thinking face. It hit Harry that that was an interesting realization.

“So, what has it done to her?” 

“Right now, it appears that she's gotten ice and snow powers. As far as she can remember she's never had powers before, but I have a theory on that.”

“You think she had them as a kid?” Cisco guessed. Harry couldn't stop the smile on his face at his astute head of engineering. 

“Bingo, the question is, why did she not know about this before now?”

“That's what you want me to vibe I'm guessing?”

“Can you do it? Energent?” 

Harry glanced over and saw Cisco smirking, the way his face looked, it was almost like he had rolled his eyes.

“Can do Dr. Wells,” Cisco responded. Harry almost felt like there was fondness lacing his sarcasm.

Cisco's vibe of Caitlyn confirmed Harry's suspicions. She had powers when she was a kid, but her father found a way to put a mental block in to keep her from remembering and using them. So when the dark matter blasted her, it more awoke her powers than amplified them. 

He and Harry were working side by side on his goggles later that afternoon when an alarm started going off. Harry started tapping on things, not speaking for a long time. Cisco felt his energy rise with every alarm. 

“Intruder,” Harry finally spoke, “killed the guards at the front door, Jesse's in combat now.”

“Is it a super?”

“It appears so, she used metal shards to kill the guards,” Harry sounded concerned. It made sense though, Jesse was involved.

“Oh this bitch.” Cisco sneered, remembering who he knows who can control metal. 

“Who?”

“The Blacksmith, she's a real piece of work. I'd get Jesse some backup if I were you.”

There's some silent tapping before Harry speaks again, “Tell me about her,” he requests.

“Amunet Black, aka The Blacksmith, developed her superpowers as a young adult instead of as a child or preteen years like most. Worked at a club at the time, found out she could stop creepy old men from touching her if they were dead. A weird combination her. She has a distinct preference to kill child predators, but otherwise only kills if attacked first. More of a Robin Hood I guess, but not quite as Noble. She grows her enterprise by stealing from the rich and powerful and hiring the poor folks to work for her. She actually offered me a job before I worked here, I walked away with more than a few injuries after declining her invitation with less tact then I should have.” Cisco finishes with a sigh, “I still have a scar there actually,” he mumbles.

“Have you ever fought her?”

“A few times, warning her off of a couple places, this is the second time she's tried to rob your company, but the first time she never made it inside the building before I stopped her.”

“You defeated her then?”

“You don't really defeat Amunet, you more of scare her off.”

“Jesse is really getting her ass kicked down there, is there anything you can do?” Harry sounded tense, like he didn't want to ask. Cisco felt the tension like wires around his chest. 

“I can try.”

It took a minute to get his spare suit on, which Harry was offended to find out had been in the lab all along. But after that he took a deep breath.

“Time to try these new goggles I guess,” he spoke with fake confidence. 

“She's in the main lobby still.”

Cisco nodded and Harry took off the black fabric. Slipping his new goggles on quickly.

It was nearly completely opaque, but there was just enough transparency for Cisco to see vague shapes. 

“Let's do this.” 

Cisco transported himself to the lobby, which was a little disorienting but he made it. 

“Amunet!” He shouted loudly, he could see his voice vibrations and encouraged them to grow louder.

The metal super froze in her tracks from where she had Jesse surrounded with metal shards. 

“Ah! Energent darling!” She called in that shrill voice of hers. “Not very nice of you to sneak up on me like that.” 

Amunet… was partly made of metal. This was new information.

Cisco relied on the vibrations to tell him everything. He got in the Energent headspace.

“Well I know you love surprise parties dear,” Energent's voice carried even though he spoke no louder than for a casual conversation.

“I'm a little busy right now, can't you see. How about you surprise me on my birthday… wearing less clothes.”

Energent rolled his eyes, even though he knew she couldn't see it. 

“Wells Labs had done nothing against you Amunet, leave them alone,” Energent called to her as he walked forward.

“Really?” her shrill voice got even more shrill, “So explain why I start to become more and more solid metal everyday?” 

“An accident.”

“Caused by Wells Labs, imagine what this has done to my complexion!”

“You can't attack someplace because of your skin.”

Energent felt something move through the vibrations and held his hand up, blasting it with his own vibrational energy. It had been metal shards. “You're gonna have to try harder than that,  _ sweetie _ .”

All of the metal shards were heading towards him in a millisecond. 

He transported to the other side of the room and they followed as soon as Amunet saw him. 

This continued for a while with Energent blasting away shards every so often.

But as time continued, a migraine built in his head. The longer the fight went on, the more difficult it was for him to think. He realized that Jesse had been running around picking at Amunet over time. Suddenly he had an idea. He transported close, which is something he never did. And jumped on Amunet.

He held onto her like she was a snake that was going to worm out of his grasp. And then he connected with her mentally, and took off the goggles. 

She passed out immediately. Cisco bit down on his hand to keep from screaming at the pain. 

It felt a bit less chaotic, but still it hurt like hell. He could feel heavy vibrations as heavy footsteps ran for him. Too heavy to be Jesse. It must have been… hands covered his eyes.

“Shhh shhh, I'm here,” Harry called him, “You're okay, I'm here.”

A black cloth was pulled over his eyes. And Cisco felt Harry pulling him into his arms. Cisco let himself collapse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, hope y'all enjoyed


	6. I can see you

Harry discovered that the med bay was his least favorite place on Earth to be. Dr. Snow’s lab and medical center happened to have the most comforting design of all of Well’s Labs, it was nice colors, natural effects, and calming lighting. And he hated with a passion.

Cisco was laying on one of the beds while Caitlyn ran diagnostics on him using the scans Harry had taken a couple weeks ago. Harry was tense because Cisco had been unconscious for several hours. According to Caitlyn, who was still white haired and eyed by the way, his mind had pulled the parachute because it couldn’t process everything going on, and made him pass out. She said it wasn’t permanent, it was more like a nap then a coma. But Harry still couldn’t shake the feeling that Cisco was on the verge of life, despite his body being fine.

Harry stayed there all night, working on the goggles, in between hours spent staring at Cisco. Jesse had stopped by, pronounced him a worry-wart, and zoomed off to go save someone or something.

When Cisco woke up at 4:00 am, it was a panic attack that woke him. Out of nowhere his breathing went from slow to hyperventilation. He started twitching, and then he pulled his mask off his eyes. 

They were normal eyes. 

Harry stopped dead in his tracks as Cisco’s breathing slowed down. They looked at each other in silence as Cisco seemed to be processing what he was actually seeing.

“Holy shit,” Cisco whispered. 

“Your eyes-”

“I can see you?” Cisco sounded shocked.

“They’re normal.”

“I forgot what you looked like!” Cisco sounded giddy now, “Holy shit I forgot how hot-..... Uh… I forgot what sight was.”

“Cisco you can see!” Harry cheered and grabbed his shoulders, “What happened, how can you see?”

“I don’t know, I was in the universe again and I was trying to get back to my body and I ran into myself from like the past or something, and I realized that in the past, I could see everything all the time anyway, but I just like, Hyperfocused-zoomed on everything, like it was stuck on that. And I tried to match the vibration frequency. All of a sudden everything went black and I started panicking and now I can see!” Cisco spoke fast and excited, his speech got faster and faster with each sentence. 

“So you copied a vibration frequency you had in the past in order to see again?”

“Yeah!” 

“Why didn’t you do that sooner?”

“I don’t know!” Cisco was breathing fast again but it was less of a panic attack and more like he was hyperventilating from excitement. Cisco suddenly laughing almost hysterically, “Holy shit your eyes are so bright.” 

This seemed more like a panic attack.

“Breath slowly with me Cisco,” Harry encouraged, squeezing his shoulders to ground him. He grabbed Cisco's hands and put them on his ribs as he took a deep breath in. Cisco stared at his chest for a minute and breathed.

After the hyperventilating was over Cisco looked up at Harry, tears in his eyes. 

“Thank you so much for everything.”

“Should we go celebrate?” Harry asked, “Drinks on me.”

“Actually, I uh, it's been a few weeks since I've watches a movie, I kinda forgot what it was like a little bit. I don't think I can do a bar, but if you want, we can stop by a liquor store on our way to mine to watch a movie?’

That sounded great, Harry pulled him into a hug, “I'm so happy for you Cisco, let's go watch Star Trek.”


	7. Reflection Rogue

Harry got both drunk and sober in the span of a 3 movie long Star Trek marathon. Cisco just got tipsy enough to comment appreciative things about Bones's ass and the tight material that is Spock's shirt. Harry agreed with him wholeheartedly. 

Harry was getting ready to leave after he had sobered up, when all the happiness seemed to drain out of Cisco. 

“What's wrong?” Harry asked as he shrugged on his jacket.

“I just keep thinking, what if I wake up and it's all back? Like I know I copied my vibe frequency from before and everything, but what if something happens and it's back?”

Harry hesitated before pulling some out of his pocket. It was Cisco's black cloth. 

“Leave this by your nightstand, just in case.’

Cisco took a couple steps closer and took the cloth, but he grabbed Harry's hand and held it to his chest. 

“I'm scared, I've never felt like this before.”

“It'll be fine, I promise, I trust in you.” Harry put his other hand on Cisco's shoulders and gave it a reaffirming squeeze. Something about their closeness felt right. He didn't question the intimate way Cisco held his hand he just pulled Cisco closer, somewhat surprised at how reluctant he was to leave the man. He pulled Cisco into a hug, the shorter man leaned into his chest.

“I'll come back in the morning to pick you up if that will help you feel better.” He offered, giving himself that option since he feels so strongly about staying. “That way you have someone checking on you, and also, free ride to work?”

Cisco smiled against his chest and gave him a squeeze.

“That sounds perfect Harry.” He whispered. Harry gave him another tight squeeze before reluctantly letting go. 

“I'd better let you get some rest, have a good night sleep Cisco, and call me if you need anything, I'll leave your ringer on.”

“I will, you sleep well too, and check up on Jessie for me, make sure Amunet didn't get her or anything.”

“Definitely, I'll see you in the morning Ramon.”

“See ya,” Cisco showed him out and Harry left, feeling strangely giddy but also worried for Cisco. 

He showed up at Cisco's door at the same time as usual the next morning and found Cisco pacing. He rolled down the window, “What's wrong?”

Cisco looked up in surprise at his apparently sudden appearance. “What? Nothing, I just got ready early and I'm full of energy.” Cisco hopped into the car with a grace that Harry wasn't used to.

“Just kidding it's anxiety, I got hardly any sleep at  _ all _ last night, whenever I went to sleep it's like the universe decides I need to see it then since I'm blocking it when I'm awake.”

“We'll figure something out, I promise, for now should we stop by a coffee shop?”

“Yeah that way I don't fall unconscious.”

“That'd probably be good,” Harry snarked. Cisco rolled his eyes but grinned. He bopped his head along to the music as Harry drove to the nearest coffee shop with a drive through, they stopped at a coffee truck instead.

The whole thing felt ridiculously domestic as they bickered in line about different types of coffee and what was better. Harry didn't care about the coffee so much as he did about the light hearted banter with Cisco.

It hit him as he paid for both of their coffees, against Cisco's protest, that he wanted this to be domestic. He wanted the bickering and the getting morning coffee and the riding to work together. Harry felt a sort of shock. He didn't see Cisco as an employee, he was a close friend at this point, someone who he cared deeply about. Someone he didn't even see as a friend, he felt something… more.

Interesting.

Cisco carried their coffee back to the car with a light step, obviously feeling a little better after the banter. Harry was glad for that but now he felt this strange anxiety with his new realization.

He needed to do some research.

When they finally got to the lab they found Caitlyn in there crying, a friend of hers was consoling her.

When she looked up at them they could see, half of her face was made from ice. And apparently it hurt. The friend introduced himself, Barry Allen CCPD Forensics. He had witnessed the transformation. He himself was a super, super speed, like Jesse but a little bit more advanced with it. Apparently he and Caitlyn were meeting for breakfast when she suddenly curled over in pain and he watched as chunks of ice replaced what had been skin.

They worked quickly to see what was going on with science. But it was hard to determine with their equipment other than that her molecules are changing their structure. 

About an hour later Cisco stopped everything and put his tools down. Harry and everyone else glanced at him in surprise and he took a deep breath. “I'm gonna vibe her,” he spoke, “a big vibe, see if I can see what's going on.”

Barry and Caitlyn shared a concerned and confused look and Harry nodded solemnly, he put his hand on Cisco's shoulders and squeezed it. 

“Be careful Ramon, I'll be standing by with an eye mask just in case.” Harry reached into one of Cisco's desk drawers and pulled out a strip of cloth.

Glancing at Harry for a nod of approval, Cisco took a deep breath before turning to Caitlyn. He stretched out his hands as a focus and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. 

When he opened them again, he had galaxies in his eyes. 

Harry watched, tense on the sidelines, as Cisco hummed at his own findings. “The dark matter is causing the change as we suspected,” Cisco's voice sounded strained, “it appears though that the ice is a living part of her body, acting and performing the same duties as flesh. I….” Cisco grunted in pain a hand grabbing at his temples from the headache. “I think I can maybe stop it.” Harry saw a little bit of blood trickle from the corner of his eyes and his skin start to look pale. 

“I'm gonna put the mask on Ramon,” Harry took a step forward. 

“One second…… Now!”

Harry tied the cloth around Cisco's eyes and the shorter younger man collapsed against him with a groan. He cradled him there as Cisco gasped out his slowly releasing pain.

After some heavy breathing Cisco slowly pushed himself up and took a deep breath and pulled of the cloth, eyes back to normal. 

“Okay, here's the deal, Caitlyn.” Cisco finally spoke to her, “The dark matter explosion awoke your powers, and we made the mistake of assuming that's all it did.” Cisco looked back at Harry, “We didn't take into account that it might have not stopped there, which was our bad. So it has continued to evolve, causing your body to begin to transform into living ice….” Cisco sighed deeply and leaned against his work desk. Barry and Caitlyn both looked scared. “I think I can manipulate your energy frequency just enough to hide the damage or maybe find a way to get you to control it. But…. I have to be in control of it for the entire time and focused on it the entire time, and I'm not sure I can keep up for that long without my body forcing me to pass out.”

“So what's our options,” Barry asked. Cisco sighed deeply.

“Caitlyn can try and control it herself,” Cisco rubbed away the last remnants of his headache in his temple, “make it stop. She can see if it will slow down itself without interference. Or, she can wait and when I'm at full capacity we can have me reverse the damage and put an energy block on all evolution of your body.”

“That seems like the obvious choice,” Barry commented.

“Not necessarily,” Harry, Cisco, and Caitlyn all said at once.

“If he blocks all evolution of my body then I won't be able to grow immune to any more sickness, I won't improve physically. I'd be stuck like how I was right before the ice started growing.”

“On top of that it would also likely block her super powers, so she'd never be able to learn to use those,” Harry added. 

“Basically her frequency would never change, she wouldn't have the ice issues any more, but she'd also be significantly weaker and would probably die very quickly. If somehow she didn't die, she would be stuck like that until I fixed the frequency or she'd be stuck like that forever.” Cisco ended it.

“Okay, so none of those are good,” Barry coughed he seemed a little ashamed to have not realized that sooner.

Cisco ran his hands through his hair, stressed out. He massaged his temples to chase away the leftover headache. Harry came over and started rubbing at the base of his neck comfortingly. “I suggest that Snow work on controlling it, we'll have you two and Jessie work with her in helping to learn control. I'll monitor her and if things get worse, we stop and reevaluate. I want to avoid having Cisco change anything major and risk damage to both Snow and himself.” Harry felt himself just naturally press himself against Cisco's back to provide more comfort.

Caitlyn and Barry both seemed to notice this but didn't comment.

“Hey Dad,” Jessie practically materialized next to them, Harry was practically frozen to the spot. Jessie seemed to notice how they were standing but shrugged it off, “we've got bad news, Amunet was broken out of jail by the Reflection Rogue.”

“Sam?” Cisco asked out loud. Jessie gave him a weird look.

“Who?”

“Sam! You guys calling him  _ The Reflection Rogue _ ? That's the worst name I've ever heard.” Cisco wrinkled his nose. 

“That's what the press calls him.” Harry looked down at him. 

Cisco turns to Barry, “Help me out here Speedy Gonzalez, everybody else in the universe calls him Mirror Master, right?”

Barry looked like he didn't want to take sides, but he finally conceded, “It's true,” Barry shrugged apologetically, “No one wants to take that long to say that.”

“Could you imagine, going into battle with him and shouting 'Your time is done  _ Reflection Rogue _ , you're done for!’” Cisco continued with his point, “no one would take you seriously. One time Sam and I laughed about it for a solid 10 minutes one time.” Cisco chuckled for a second before he realized that everyone had tensed up around him. He saw the burning question in their expressions.

“I uh…” he fought to find something to say.

“Are you  _ friends _ with Mirror Master?” Barry took a protective step in front of Caitlyn. “A known criminal?”

“Uh. We had a uh fling for a while,” Cisco tensed into himself, and scratched the back of his neck, “Back when I wasn't…”

“Back when you were a villain?” Jessie crossed her arms at him. Cisco flinched at the accusation and felt Harry's hands lift off of him.

“You were a what?” Harry's voice was rough with the shock. Cisco stood away from him, after a second of silence, Cisco started pacing. He ran his hands over his hair as a nervous habit. 

After shooting Jessie a nasty glare, Cisco finally stopped pacing. “I had a stint as a villain. It was a rough time and as I was discovering how to master my powers as a teenager and early adult. I uh, I had run away from my adopted family because they were the type of people that moody teenagers run away from. I was homeless, but can honestly say I never spent a single night on the streets. I used my powers to break into hotel rooms by manipulating the electrical frequencies. After a few years of it, I got cocky and I got caught. But instead of being turned into the police, the person who caught me hired me. Paid me plenty of money to get into banks and jewelry stores the same way… it got worse though. What started as squatting went to petty theft and then sped into drugs and… and homegrown terrorism.” Everyone in the room froze at that, looking at each other as if asking who was going to call the police, “I was a mechanical engineering prodigy and I would do anything for the right price, even building electro bombs and weapons testing…. It was after the Metropolis bombing that even Krypton-man couldn't stop that I realized I had to stop.”

“You built those bombs?” Harry sounded heartbroken, “That killed so many people.”

Cisco shook his head and sighed, “No, a Metropolis villain stole my bombs from my employer and actually fucked them up. They were actually fairly harmless to the general population because they were supposed to only affect metallic substances. But some nincompoop thought he was making the bombs bigger the impact by adding two together but he didn't account for the fact that the two bombs would destroy each other first and cause a reaction which would be a real explosion.” Cisco sounded angry, and he had to take a few seconds to calm down, “After that incident, when I found out my bombs were originally used, I had to stop. I wasn't a terrorist and nothing I would ever do again would help them,” Cisco seemed to hesitate before continuing, “It was shortly after I returned to petty theft that I met Sam, we kept running into each other on heists, and I had no interest in killing for petty cash so I never attacked him. Eventually we developed a friendship and then eventually we started fucking and doing heists together. He had a reputation in the press and I had a reputation among criminals. And among heroes to an extent.”

“Tell him about when we met,” Jessie challenged him. Cisco glared at her again.

“Sam and I had just split up on good terms, the sex was great, but we were better off as friends. So we went separate ways and I returned to squatting for the most part. I had the cash, but why pay for the expensive hotel, when you can crash for free,” Cisco danced around the details for a few more seconds when finally he got to it, “One night I was walking through the streets and I could hear the distinct sound of someone getting beat up down an alleyway. I turn to look and it's this old drunk man beating a little kid who was just begging for him to come to himself.” Cisco went quiet for a second and his voice was soft when he spoke again, “My father was an abusive piece of shit before I got adopted, so I just got super angry. So I took a video of the man beating the kid for a few seconds, and then I started tearing him apart piece by piece.”

“I was 13 and out walking with some friends, and I hear this unearthly screaming. I zoom in real fast and I saw what was happening.” Jessie interjected.

“And that was the first time we fought, the whole time I had split attention because I was also focusing on scrambling the man's atoms except for his pain receptors. And Jessie just about defeated me. But finally the guy was dead and I stopped fighting.”

“I was still speed punching him when I heard a younger voice cry out to stop. The little kid stopped me and explained what went on. So I stopped.” Jessie supplied.

“After she gave me a lecture on not killing people I gave her the video so she could report it to the police and I went on my way. I still committed crimes but I kept an eye out for folks in trouble. I about died only a couple months later and I had an experience with the universe wherein I discovered my true calling and left the life of crime and went to college for two years. Before contacting Jessie and starting my job here. It wasn't until after the dark matter explosion that Jessie found out that I as the same criminal that used to make metal destroying bombs and vibe through walls to steal cash. Energent. And here we are now.” Cisco grinned at them. 

Nobody grinned back.

“You killed someone?” Harry sounded hollow.

“Someone implies there was only one. I’ve killed lots of people unfortunately,” Cisco sobered up, “I don’t enjoy it, I’m not an evil guy. But sometimes the only way to stop people his to permanently stop them.”

“There is always a better way,” Barry spit at him in anger.

“Is there?” Cisco looked up at him, “You know what happened after my old man got out of prison?” Everybody was deadly silent. “He found out where my brother was living and went and beat his ass up. Even worse, he raped my brothers wife, after beating my brother nearly to death. I have seen this happen to countless people. 20 years in prison didn’t change my dad, it just made him crazy and vengeful. I’ve seen supervillains come out of prison on good behaviour and a deal with the government and immediately go on a murder spree as soon as they got out.” Cisco felt everybody flinch away from a rise of anger within him, “Sometimes villains genuinely change, sometimes bad people can. But if those villains…. If my dad, had been killed, it would have kept so many people from getting hurt. My brother’s wife committed suicide after what my father did to her. My brother got put in a mental hospital for a month because he was about to do the same after she died. If my dad had been killed like he deserved than that wouldn’t have happened. So look me in the eyes Barry Allen, and tell me that there is always a better way.” After Barry refused to meet his eyes, Cisco felt the anger leaving him, “I haven’t killed someone in a while, I try to do things the better way. I try… I try to not have to kill. But there are some people who are just truly evil and there is no better way to protect people than to exterminate the danger. I don’t like killing people.”

Cisco glanced at Harry and then immediately looked down at his feet.

After a few heavy seconds. Cisco sighed and scratched the back of his head, “I’m going to go see if I can find where the hell Amunet and Sam have gone.”

Cisco transported himself away from there and into his own apartment. 

He exhaled heavily and then he felt it.

Something sharp poking into his neck, right over the major artery.

“Hey hot stuff,” Sam’s voice greeted him from across the room. Amunet grinned wickedly from beside him. “I think we have something we need to discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the double chapter post


	8. It's Gone

“Cisco's been missing for 4 days,” Caitlyn said from Harry's doorway. “I went to his apartment and nobody answered the door, I almost broke in, but Barry wouldn't let me.

“After what went down last time we all saw each other I'm not surprised.” Harry grumbled, working on the handcuffs again.

“I've been thinking about it. I still trust him.” Caitlyn crossed her arms, “I believe he's telling the truth. He is good.”

Harry sighed and hung his head a bit.

“I think so too, but all that he's done, he should be in jail for that. He never even told us about his past until he was forced to.”

“Would you want to if yours was as dark as him?” Caitlyn reasoned.

All of a sudden Barry Allen zoomed to a stop beside them. “I found Cisco.” He said, his face was set in a frown. “And Amunet and Mirror Master. Breaking into the State Capitol building.”

Harry glanced at Caitlyn and then looked at Barry, he grabbed the hand cuffs.

“Take me to them.”

Barry grabbed his arm and all of a sudden they were right next to Amunet. The handcuffs were out of his hands on Amunet’s wrist in a flash.

Mirror Master and Cisco gaped from across the room. Cisco wore his goggles that Harry had helped him make and a suit to match. He sighed after he saw who it was. 

“Sam,” he sighed, “There’s no point, these guys can beat you.”

“But they can’t beat you,” Sam put his arm around Cisco and pulled him close, “And I know that you’re not going to fight me. Get me those files and you’re free to not fight them baby.”

Harry felt something like a gut punch when Sam called Cisco Baby. Cisco hung his head as he thought about his options. 

“I’m not evil Sam,” Cisco whispered. He felt something sharp against his neck. 

“Well you’re not a good guy,” Sam spat out, “Or do you forget all the fun we used to have?”

“People change.”

“Not you,” Sam was getting angry, “I know you more than anybody else, I know your past, your dark secrets, the way you breathe when you sleep, the way you prefer angel hair pasta to spaghetti pasta, the way you roll up your toothpaste tube instead of trying to squeeze it all out. Those things don’t change and neither do you at your core.” Sam spun him around, hand on his throat, “I know your deepest self Cisco Ramon, you will never change.”

Cisco put his hand on Sam’s cheek. “I don’t want to be the same forever, do you?” And then Cisco blew Sam all the way across the room with an energy blast. Around his goggles was glowing. He marched across the room to Sam. “You are constantly stuck in the past. I  _ died _ Sam! You think that doesn’t change a man? I’m not proud of my past I am alw-”

“Not proud of me? The years we spent together?” Sam disappeared and appeared on the other side of the glass room. He punched Cisco with all his might. Cisco's goggles started glowing again and all of a sudden all the mirrors and glass broke into little shards that floated in the air. Barry tried to run forward but he hot a forcefield that bounced him back.

“No fair,” Sam whined at him, the shards kept shrinking until it was just sand basically. Then it all dropped to the floor. “We made a deal.”

“Where you guys threatened my life,” Cisco gave them a bitch face. “But thanks for getting me into the State Capital Building, I've been meaning to add a little to their security defense system and now I've got the chance. Oh, and those files you want me to steal? So encrypted that only I can get in them now, and I'll die before that ever happens. 

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. “You've always been so dramatic.” And all of a sudden he shot Cisco, “You really think Amunet just broke into Wells Labs for no reason?” He asked when Cisco dropped to his knees, unable to phase the bullet like he normally would, “It was a distraction oh all powerful Energent. For me to steal this gun. You got in my way.”

“Cisco!” Harry banged on the forcefield, “Let us in!” Cisco looked over at them blood soaking past the leather of his suit. He turned to Sam.

“And you're in mine,” he growled. The wound started glowing, seeping light with blood as Cisco forced himself to his knees, the goggles were taken off. Sam shot him again, in his heart. Cisco didn't stop. He reached a hand out towards Sam and Sam shot him again, on the other side of his chest. Cisco's hand started glowing and Sam panicked. Using the last bullet in the gun he shot Cisco square in the forehead. All of his wounds sept blood and crackling energy. Suddenly vibrations were moving and reverberating off of the forcefield, gaining power in the circle of forcefield.

Amunet screamed at Cisco to stop, Harry and Caitlyn plead with him. And they all watched as Sam's body shook, skin looking like Jell-O. 

All of a sudden, a glowing light seeped out of Sam's skin. Everyone went silent in horror and awe as a glowing cast of Sam's body was extracted. And then it was crumbled. Everything stopped at once, the forcefield powered down and Sam and Cisco both dropped to their knees. Sam was still alive. And he started sobbing.

“It's gone,” he blabbered, “he took it, it's gone.” 

Cisco started coughing, his wounds only slightly glowed. 

He looked up at Harry as he rushed to his side. “I think I need a doctor.”

And then Cisco passed out


	9. Title

Harry stared at the readings. Mirror Master was no longer a super. Not one bit of him was anything other than normal homosapien biology. Cisco had destroyed his powers.

“He's up,” Caitlyn said from the door. Harry looked over at her and saw her concerned look. “He asked for you.”

“Any update on his condition?” 

“He's still seeping energy,” Caitlyn confirmed, “he stopped bleeding but the energy breaks stitches every time I try to close the wound.”

“So he's still in quarantine?” 

“Very much so.”

“Okay,” Harry pushed himself away from the desk and strode down to Caitlyn's med bay. He walked over to the quarantine section and found Cisco laying, vaguely reclined up, in bed, eyes open. Harry stood in front of the big window and just looked at Cisco, conflicting emotions in his stomach.

“I kinda thought I would die and, like a coward, would not have to deal with this conversation.” Cisco finally spoke up, sounding rough.

“You've killed people.”

“Yes.”

“You have no problem killing people.” 

“It's as easy as snapping.”

“But you didn't kill Mirror Master,” Harry crossed his arms.

“I did something worse than that to him,” Cisco shrugged before coughing heavily. “For Sam, not having his powers is worse than death.”

“But you still could have chosen to kill him.”

“You guys had already captured Amunet, if I killed Sam I probably would have ended up in handcuffs too. It wasn't necessary.” 

“He tried to kill you.”

“He did kill me.” Cisco smiled sadly. “I'm just not done yet. That gun worked wonders though. It's gonna take forever to fix skin.”

“He killed you?” 

“My body stopped working, but the energy took over, I was basically a zombie shell for my energy. It was awesome.”

Harry went silent.

“I don't… I don't know what to say Harry,” Cisco said sadly, “I was a bad guy. Evil even. But now I've changed. I don't kill unless I have to, and I do my best to be fair. I just started off wrong.” 

Harry put his hand on the wall. 

“I want to believe that. I just… it'll take time. You've been lying for a long time. I want to make sure you're not lying about this. Before I trust you again.” Cisco nodded. Just then a huge spark of electricity leaped out of Cisco and sizzled into the ground. Cisco gasped in pain.

“What's happening to you?” Harry asked, concerned.

“The bullets, they pierced my energy at it's core, so I'm slowly losing water pressure.” he gave a pitiful laugh.

“This isn't funny Cisco,” Harry gave him a serious look, “What's happening, seriously?”

“That gun. The bullets and the gun were a project that I was given a few months after I started working here.” Cisco got out painfully. “I specifically made them strong enough so they would be able to cause some hard damage to, maybe even kill, some of the most invincible supers around. Supposedly even me, but I guess that theory was tested. What it does is it has a very specific frequency of radiation that will cause the frequency of the superpowers to bounce away from wherever it hits. So it's essentially causing a barrier for the super powers, which means that the super can't heal themselves. For me, it’s kinda like I got pricked, a very small hole in a water balloon, and I’m slowly leaking energy. My energy is contained within my body but the container got a hole in it when I got shot.”

“How-... is there a way to fix it?” 

“I’m working on that, but the bullets also caused a bit of a disconnect between my body and my powers so I’m having trouble vibing right now.”

Harry watched him, concerned, as he shifted in pain. His mind was racing.

“I wish you had told me about your past sooner. I know it’s not legally any of my business, you don’t owe it to me. But I wish you had.”

Cisco looked over at him, a sad look on his face. 

“We present the best version of ourselves to others,” he said softly, “I have an absolute worst version of myself that I try not to show people. Especially not people I care about.” He gave Harry a sad smile before coughing heavily.

Harry leaned his forehead against the glass wall separating them, “Well, the right people will get over your past, and care about you despite that.” He said, almost too quiet to be heard. He glanced up to see Cisco grinning tiredly at him.

“Good.”


	10. My Fabulous Ass

Cisco felt like he was being disintegrated from the inside out. His energy ate away at his body.

“Maybe we should just take it away?” He suggested. To which everyone in the room paused the conversation to look at him. “My power I mean. That's what got me here in the first place, why not take it away?”

“Well first of all, because we don't have the ability.” Jesse said simply.

“Second of all we don't know what that would do to your body.” Caitlyn continued. 

“Third of all, you said yourself, that's worse than death.” Harry added.

“I mean, I don't know that for certain?” Cisco offered. “It's gotta be better then what's currently going on.”

“Cisco you can't be serious,” Caitlyn looked concerned, “For you it will be like having lost all of your senses!”

“Well I survived being blind, I'm sure I could survive this.”

“Your body is healing, it just needs more time!”

“Well I feel like I'm being eaten inside out by acid. It fucking hurts okay!” Cisco yelled before dissolving into coughs. Jesse looked from Cisco to Harry, who had quickly started rubbing his back. 

“Dad, when Cisco was blind, you took scans of him right?” She finally asked. Harry and Cisco both looked up at her as Cisco's coughing subsided. 

“Yeah….”

“What if you used one of those scans of those vibrations and made a mimic of them to play onto Cisco. Create a sort of past self reverberation, like how he did to bring back his vision!”

“That might work,” Cisco and Harry said at the same time. Cisco continued, “Hypothetically, that vibration, since it's not from my power, might be able to pierce through the frequency of the holes. Maybe it could jumpstart a reset on my vibration control!”

“It wouldn't be so much of a jumpstart as a bridge, Caitlyn mused looking at her datapad, “It would allow you to get a sort of a pathway to connect you to your vibe, bridging over the wound.”

“And if that doesn't work, we could try reversing the frequency of the bullets radiation themselves!” Harry looked excited to finally have a breakthrough.

  
  


It was a hard process with a lot of screaming by Cisco and a lot of Jesse holding her dad back while Caitlyn worked past Cisco's screaming.

They put him in a soundproof room, so the vibrations wouldn't affect anyone else, and started the vibrations bouncing through the room at the frequency that Harry had scanned. It was akin to torture for Cisco, who could be seen screaming through the window.

But it was working. 

“I can see the frequency from the bullet wounds is dying slowly.” Caitlyn announce about a minute in. 30 more seconds in and Jesse had to restrain Harry as he kept trying to turn it off. Shouting that it was hurting Cisco too much. 

It was 3 minutes in and Caitlyn was preparing to turn it off in 30 more seconds when all of a sudden Cisco started glowing. He stopped screaming as his eyes, mouth and hands started emitting a bright light. 

Everyone stood in shock as Cisco started levitating. Floating over to the window, looking like some sort of celestial being, Cisco cocked his head at them and all of a sudden the lights all dimmed and Caitlyn watched as the vibration they were filling the room with turned off. Then Cisco vibed through the wall till he was levitating in front of them. 

He opened his mouth as if to talk, but all that came out was tangible vibrations. He closed his eyes and lowered himself down to the floor. When he opened them he grinned, eyes normal. “Hey guys! It worked!”

..……………...…...…

“So you're a god now?” Barry asked over a beer. After getting over the initial problem with Cisco's past, Barry and Cisco unsurprisingly became good friends. Mostly because Cisco took several bullets after being threatened into doing something he didn't want to and stopping the bad guys and almost dying from it. Barry came and visited Cisco several times while he was quarantined because he felt bad about not trusting him. And now they're friends!

“Yeah I guess so,” Cisco chuckled over his own beer. Barry couldn't get drunk, but that just meant that he had to be the designated. They were already several beers into their night and Cisco was feeling good but also realizing that his alcohol tolerance had improved significantly.

“That's insane.” Barry took an impressed sip.

“I mean I'm not necessarily a literal god. But like, my powers are absolutely ridiculously extensive.” Cisco shrugged.

“You have the humility of a god.” Barry snorted into his drink. 

“I died for this, I think I deserve to have pride.” Cisco pointed his bottle at Barry as a warning. 

“Sure sure,” the speedster chuckled. 

They laughed about it for a minute. When their laughter died off to a comfortable silence, Barry decided to ruin it. “So what's the deal with you and Harrison Wells?” Barry gave Cisco an implicative smile.

“Dude, if only I knew,” Cisco snorted.

“I mean, I thought you two were together. But Jesse was complaining about her dad pining after you when we went on patrol. So that's when I found out you weren't.”

“Yeah, it's a little weird. I know he wants me, and I want him, but we haven't talked about it.”

“Why?”

“Well the question is if we want the same things. Like, does he want a relationship? A friends with benefits thing? How badly did my past being exposed fuck up my chances? Et cetera.” 

“I think your chances are pretty good. Have you talked to him much since you became Our Heavenly Lord or whatever?” Barry laughed and failed to dodged a playful arm punch from Cisco. 

“Fuck you,” Cisco laughed, “Not really. He drove me home that day and then I've just seen him when I came into work. And we haven't talked outside of work really.” 

“Why?”

“I don't know? It just feels like I can't? Like now that everything is fixed, I don't have an excuse.”

“You should just do it.”

“Yeah.”

“Like, right now.”

“But-”

“Right now.”

“I-”

“Cisco, you deserve to have something good and simple happen in your life. Just portal over to his house and woo him.”

Barry gave him a look, and sure Cisco was so powerful he could probably incinerate him on spot if he felt inclined, but wow Barry Allen has a power  _ look _ .

“Fine.” 

Cisco vibed out Harry's location he was at home alone, Jesse was on patrol. Cisco gave Barry a salute and then disappeared. Appearing outside of Harry's house- well… mansion. He took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

He bounced on his heels, watching the energy vibrations of Harry walking down the hall toward the door. Cisco waved at the doors security camera that he knew Harry would be checking.

"Cisco?" Harry opened the door looking surprised. 

"Hey," Cisco smiled at him. He felt himself coming up empty for things to say. Cosmic fucking powers, and he can't figure out what to say to a man who's become his best friend and a little more.

"Uh. Come in?" Harry opened the door the rest of the way and Cisco smiled at him nervously as he walked in. "I wasn't expecting to see you here." Harry sounded a little bitter and a little curious.

"Oh uh, well… I missed you." Cisco felt himself choke out, not sure why it was so hard for him. It's just Harry.

"Oh! Uh, I missed you too," Harry sounded confused but pleasantly surprised. 

"Good, good." Cisco looked around, everywhere but at Harry. "It feels like I've barely seen you since I revibed."

"Yeah," Harry obviously didn't know what to do with this situation either.

"But I was just talking to Barry about how much I missed you, and then he reminded me that I could just come and see you now. And that I don't need some life risking situation to hangout with you."

"You certainly don't," Harry sounded like he finally understood. Cisco looked up to him and smiled again. 

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go get some Big Belly Burgers?"

"With you? Absolutely."

"Just to be clear, this is a date."

"Yeah, good. Great."

"Cool."

Cisco and Harry just kind of stood there and looked at each other. Both too dumb to move.

"Will you two just go? Or fuck?" Jesse's voice came suddenly from the still open door, "Something needs to happen here." 

"Jesse," Harry berates her.

"What? It does." Jesse stated with a shrug. She was still in her super suit from patrol and she just walked into the kitchen. 

“Maybe, uh, maybe we should go?” Cisco laughed finally. Harry looked over at him with adoration, like he owned the world. (He kinda did)

“Yeah, but we’re driving not transporting, I’m going to get as much time out of you as I can.” 

“Now  _ that _ sounded dirty,” Cisco waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Come on Cisco,” he sighed as he headed to the garage, “Let’s go on a date.”

____________________________________________________________________________

_ 2 years later _

“CISCO RAMONE I told you to stop hacking the mainframe!”

“And I told YOU to upgrade the security system!”

“It’s literally impossible for it to be hard enough to stop YOU from hacking it!”

“YEAH but it should take more than a MILLISECOND!”

Clattering was heard from the lab and all the employees of Wells Labs glanced at each other in annoyance.

“I did not HIRE YOU to TEST MY SECURITY!”

“Yeah but YOU’RE the one engaged to my fabulous ass! Which means you hired me to test your patience!”

Everybody rolled their eyes again and put their headphones in. They all knew that the yelling at each other was about to subside and probably turn into an overly sexual staring contest and maybe a kiss before they go back to quietly working together. 

Jesse walked up but everybody shook their heads at her and she turned back around.

Soon Cisco came out wearing a satisfied smirk with mechanic oil on his ass in the shape of a hand print that looked more like a smack than a grope and everybody minded their damn business. 

It was business as usual at Wells Labs and the newly engaged couple acted like they always did, testing each other’s patience but working better together than anyone ever could. 

They were thinking a fall wedding.


End file.
